Craig Warwick
Overview Craig Warwick was a Dranian politician of the right-wing Grand National Party formerly serving as MP for Elbian Province and Chairman of the GNP since March 3425. From 3440 to 3441, he was Prime Minister of Dranland. Early Life He was born in 3392 in Widefield (Elbian), a rural parish in the highlands of Elbian Province. His father, a large-scale farmer and landlord, and his mother, a homemaker, were of modest wealth and politically deeply conservative, having voted GNP throughout their whole lives except for the period between 3389 and 3405 when they instead opted for the CNP. After graduating from high school in 3410, he went to Comares, which is the economic stronhold of Elbian Province. There, he attended college for three years before he began working as an investor, using capital he inherited from selling parts his parent's lands after their death. His fortune soon grew rapidly and he managed to "let the money do the work" and concentrate on his political ambitions instead. Politics After serving as councillor in Comares between 3315 and 3319 and serving as chairman of the city's economic board, he decided to run for a direct seat in his rural home district Widefield, whose population was made up predominately by conservative Welsh citizens, who he managed to appeal to easily. Thus, he was elected to Parliament in 3420 and soon excelled in the field of economic policy which he gave most of his speeches on. GNP Parliamentary Leader Prime Minister Adrienne LeCoultre-Overstraten, who actively encouraged the young man's ambitions and appreciated his enthusiasm on economic issues, awarded to him the prestigious position of parliamentary leader, which he held between 3423 and 3425. GNP Chairman After the GNP's historical defeat in the 3424 general election, Warwick was one of the first to announce his candidacy for the position of Chairman, which had shortly before been vacated by the Prime Minister. His main rival during the campaign was Julia Breckinridge, daughter of Speaker Delia Breckinridge, who emerged as early frotrunner. Throughout the campaign, Breckinridge and Warwick frequently exchanged jibes and mocked each other as "urban hipster girl" (Warwick to Breckinridge), "flippant greenhorn" (Breckinridge to Warwick) while running neck-and-neck while Tilney was largely ignored and onle scored single-digit poll numbers. While Breckinridge was polled above 40% and led Warwick by about ten percent until last December, the tide began to turn when many GNPers gave a second look to the latter after his solid debate performance against President Monmouth over the proposed DSP-PGR-ED coalition. In early January, both were tied at 40 percent, with the momentum being on Warwick's side. In February, he finally took the lead and climbed up to 47% in the polls, while Breckinridge remained at 40%. In March, however, his poll numbers slipped again and the outcome of the race was deemed open by most pundits. Ahead of the vote, Warwick, despite his libertarian leanings proclaimed conservative paroles and vowed to "represent the heart and soul of Dranland, preserve our traditions and fight against the socialists meddling with people's private autonomy". In the end, Warwick took 50.6 percent of the votes in the first round, leading Breckinridge (47.1%) and Tilney (2.3%) and thus winning the chairpersonship without a runoff, contrary to what was widely expected. In his victory speech, he proclaimed "unapologetic economic libertarianism and cultural conservatism", apparently attempting to appeal to both wings of his party. In Opposition Together with the PP's Mariano Delgado, the GNP blocked most left-wing bills submitted by the administration of Prime Minister Cadfael Maddocks, leaving it paralyzed. Warwick's main goal was to work for a collapse of the DSP-PGR-ED coalition through pointing out their disagreements on economic issues, a stategy which eventually succeeded only two years after the centre-left coalition had assumed power. Education Minister Subsequently, a regime change occurred and the GNP returned to power in a new four-way rightist coalition, which managed to win a majority in the 3428 elections, with the GNP gaining strongly up to nearly 20% of the popular vote. In the following cabinet renewal, Warwick became Minister of Education and Culture in the cabinet of Jacqueline Townsend. In that position, he clashed with the DSP when its leader proposed to outlaw religious schools, abolish the opt-out option from sexual education and ban private education institutions. Warwick's response was as follows: ''"Mr. Speaker, the DSP's education fascism reveals the true intentions of this party under the regime of this radical communist Benandez: Enforce an extremist idea of social justice, eliminate the freedom of those whose believes might differ from that of the all-controlling state apparatus, crush freedom of religion to brainwash children into becoming soulless little commie soldiers and finally depriving families of their autonomy by seizing authority over children and handing it over to a shockingly invasive nanny state. This policy, Mr Speaker, is pure fascism, and Mr Benandez has proven himself to be a totalitarian megalomaniac." '' Apart from his responsibilities as Minister, he remained GNP Chairman, which put him at the forefront of ideological clashes, especially over immigration. When the GNP opposed an amnesty for illegal immigrants and also rejected the establishment of integration centers, the parties of the left slammed him for his alleged "anti-immigrant rhetoric", especially after he claimed that DSP and GS aimed to introduce eminent domain in order to seize private homes and turn them into immigration centers. DSP leader Benandez also introduced a censorship motion against him, which, however, failed to pass the assembly. Warwick also managed the 3328, 3329 and 3334 election campaigns of his party, which all turned out successful as the GNP rose from 19 to 30 percent throughout that course of time. Interior Minister Warwick switched to the position of Interior Minister in 3435 following a cabinet reshuffle, now having to deal with a fragile security situation. As Minister, he hosted a secret conference with members of the Hulstrian government at the Dranish naval base in Gogledd Pwynt, working out a joint security and anti-terrorism strategy. Later on, he sought to counter terrorist activities - including an assassination attempt against the Prime Minister and several train bombings in the capital - by deploying more security forces and co-operating with the army, which soon helped to calm down the situation. Prime Minister After he warded off a leadership challenge brought against him by Julia Breckinridge, Warwick succeeded Townsend as Prime Minister after a sex scandal and a funding affair involving the Business Minister Elina Cadiavera (GNP) and several MPs had shook up Dranland's politial scene. Despite initial successes such as the privatization of TV and radio stations as well as the abolition of art and renewable energy subsidies, the GNP's poll numbers dropped rapidly and Warwick, once revered as a genius campaign strategist, led his party to a crushing defeat, which led to his later resignation as Chairman and Prime Minister. He would remain an MP until 3449 when he lost his Elbianse seat to his PGR challenger at the height of newly revived Draddwyr nationalism. Category:GNP leaders Category:Grand National Party (Dranland) politicians Category:Dranian people